HiiL calls on tech startups to attend World Legal Summit in Cape Town

The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law’s (HiiL) Southern Africa chapter has called on startups to attend The World Legal Summit (WLS) in Cape Town are now open.

The event — which will bring together lawyers, technologists and specialists — will take place at the Moot Room, at UCT’s Faculty of Law on 1 August.

World Legal Summit president Aileen Schultz said in a statement on Tuesday (16 July) that her organisation was honoured to have HiiL join the first year of the World Legal Summit, and believes their team is well equipped to get the right stakeholders from across South Africa to the discussion.

The summit will cover issues around identity and governance in the era of digital citizenship, protection of personal data and cybersecurity, and machine learning and AI from a SA perspective.

The World Legal Summit will bring together lawyers, technologists and specialists in Cape Town on 1 August

Participants will tackle tough questions about what can be done at the regulatory level to ensure new technologies strengthen citizen rights and facilitate fair access to justice, and that they improve business opportunities for all, not just the elite few.

The August WLS summit is the first of a two-part initiative that will be taking place simultaneously in 30 cities and 20 countries.

The Cape Town event is being hosted as part of HiiL’s programme of events around its annual Innovating Justice Challenge, through which it seeks out and supports entrepreneurs and innovators who are developing new solutions to prevent and resolve citizens’ most pressing justice needs.

HiiL opened the 2019 challenge for applications in June and applications close on 15 August, at midnight Central European Time (CET) (see this story).

“We’re very excited to be hosting World Legal Summit alongside our partners at the LawTechLab at the University of Cape Town and law firm, Baker McKenzie,” said Themba Mahleka, Southern Africa Agent for HiiL,

Among the panelists and speakers confirmed for the World Legal Summit Cape Town are:

• AfricanLII co-founder Mariya Badeva-Bright
• Baker McKenzie senior associate Ashlin Perumall
• Pitje Chambers and SALRC’s Anthea Platt
• AfricanLII data scientist Neil du Toit
• Baker McKenzie partner Darryl Bernstein
• Future Law Faculty founder Jackie Nagtegaal
• Judges Matter co-ordinator Alison Tilley
• JusDraft co-founder Emile Gerber
• OpenUp founding director Gabriella Razzano
• Mosaic’s Nandipha Ganya

Places at World Legal Summit Cape Town are limited, and can be reserved here.

Read more: HiiL launches call for Innovating Justice Challenge 2019

Featured image: WilliamCho via Pixabay